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Monrovia Unified Elementary Students Receive Free Dictionaries from Local Elks Club
Arcadia Weekly Nov 09, 2017
A class of Bradoaks Elementary School’s third-graders holding their new, personalized dictionaries, donated by the Duarte Elks Club to encourage students to learn new words and improve their vocabulary.
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A class of Bradoaks Elementary School’s third-graders holding their new, personalized dictionaries, donated by the Duarte Elks Club to encourage students to learn new words and improve their vocabulary. – Courtesy photo
Elks Club 1427 donates 3,500 dictionaries annually
Bradoaks Elementary School third-grader Alaina Delgado eagerly flipped through the pages of her new dictionary during the school’s Oct. 30 dictionary giveaway assembly, thrilled at having a resource to expand her vocabulary.
“It’s really cool that they gave us these dictionaries because it will help me learn new words to use every day,” Delgado said. “Now I get to look up a bunch of words that I didn’t even know existed before.”
Delgado was one of more than 500 Monrovia Unified elementary school students to receive a free dictionary from members of the Duarte Elks Club No. 1427. The organization gives away 3,500 dictionaries to local school districts each year to encourage students to become life-long learners, while also encouraging students to consider college and remain drug free.
“We love the excitement that the Duarte Elks Club brings to our students during their annual dictionary give away,” Monrovia Unified Board President Bryan Wong said. “This gift will encourage our students to understand the power of words and the importance of literacy.”
The Duarte Elks have been donating dictionaries to Monrovia Unified since 2011. Each dictionary contains resources for learning American Sign Language, the geography of the United States, different parts of speech and a section for the longest word in the English language, which is a 1,909-letter term for a type of enzyme.
“Our partnership with the Duarte Elks Club is an annual treat for our students because it piques their interest in learning new words and provides them the opportunity to find new ways to express themselves,” Monrovia Unified Superintendent Dr. Katherine Thorossian said. “Thank you to the Duarte Elks Club for providing a valuable resource to our students.”
Bradoaks Elementary School third-graders practice sign language thanks to their new dictionaries, donated by the Duarte Elks Club during an Oct. 30 assembly. The annual gift encourages students to become lifelong learners.
